HAMILTON  Following an emotional hearing Wednesday, a Butler County judge took away the license of a teenage driver who admitted responsibility for a 100-mph fatal crash and ordered him to spend several months in a rehabilitation center.

The June 11 crash on Interstate 75 in Liberty Township happened amid a spate of serious wrecks involving teen drivers.

The 17-year-old from West Chester Township dabbed at tears with a tissue as he listened to others describe the crash's impact on their lives:

Lois and Lawrence Ferry of Cincinnati had a victims' advocate read their statements expressing heartbreak over loss of their son, Stephen, 18, who was thrown from the car's backseat and killed.

A passenger in the car, Jamie Buchanan, 18, of West Chester, suffered brain injuries that put her into a coma. I would've taken Steve's place if I could, she said. My emotions and my injuries can be repaired, but Steve's can't be. Then, overwhelmed, she said, I can't do this, and returned to her seat.

Richard F. Schneider, a 34-year-old truck driver from Fairfield, said the crash left him with horrifying images that he relives constantly.

I have to go past that spot 45 times a month ... Every day, I see that car come across the median ... I see it strike the front of my vehicle, he said. I see the young man come out the back window ... That will stay with me forever.

The Enquirer is withholding the driver's name because of his age and because the case remained in Juvenile Court.

The teen's lawyer, Tom Heekin Jr., called his client the most sorry person in this courtroom.

The teen was a Lakota West band member who got good grades and had no prior

record, Mr. Heekin said. In many ways, he was a model kid, he said. ... All of that changed and went very wrong on the day of the accident.

But Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus later said, The word "accident' is so misused in a case like this ... Recklessness is not an accident.

The teen was charged with delinquency counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.

The judge said the youth behaved with utter disregard for the consequences. Anyone in his right mind would have known not to attempt to negotiate the curving I-75 entrance ramp from the Michael A. Fox Highway while traveling at more than twice the suggested speed of 45 mph, the judge said.